US to restrict travel over new coronavirus variant omicron, which is likely already here

The United States will restrict travel from eight countries amid concerns over a new coronavirus mutant called the omicron variant, which one Boston doctor said is likely already in the country.

The Biden administration announced there will be travel restrictions starting Monday for non-U.S. citizens from South Africa, where the variant has thrived, plus Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique and Malawi.

Biden, briefed by the nation’s top infectious disease specialist Dr. Anthony Fauci, said in a statement, “The news about this new variant should make clearer than ever why this pandemic will not end until we have global vaccinations.”

More than a dozen other countries have also announced travel restrictions in the face of the newly christened omicron variant, which the World Health Organization named as a “variant of concern” on Friday.

“This variant has a large number of mutations and some of these mutations have some worrying characteristics,” said Dr. Maria Van Kerkove, the WHO’s coronavirus technical lead.

The “variant of concern” designation is more severe than a “variant of interest” classification, and means countries should now share genomic sequences of the virus and report clusters to the WHO along with performing field investigations.

Omicron was first detected in South Africa, where new case counts had hovered around 200 a day — and quickly skyrocketed to more than 2,000 a day as the variant spread.

Fewer than 6 percent of people in Africa have been fully immunized against COVID-19, and millions of health workers and vulnerable populations have yet to receive a single dose.

The variant appears to have a high number of mutations. Mutations in the coronavirus spike protein could mean the strain is more contagious, more severe, or could evade immunity. However, those factors remain unknown until scientists can study the mutant further.

Dr. Shira Doron, infectious disease specialist at Tufts Medical Center, said omicron is “likely already here.”

But she said there’s no reason to panic. Doron urged all eligible people to get vaccinated against coronavirus, and to get a booster shot.

“Even if the new variant evades the immunity from the vaccine, it is highly unlikely that it will do so completely, so being vaccinated is critical right now,” Doron said.” If need be, the mRNA vaccine companies will be able to make a new version of the vaccine within weeks.”

Moderna announced Friday that the company is testing three existing booster candidates against omicron along with a new candidate specifically aimed at the new variant.

There are no reported cases of omicron in the United States yet, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tracker, but identifying and sequencing cases takes time. The delta variant is still the dominant coronavirus strain in the U.S.

Omicron shell-shocked the world on Friday and caused the stock market and the price of oil to plummet while countries continue to jump into action to prevent its spread.

Herald wire service contributed to this report.